It was a closely-matched encounter until Turf Moor favourite Danny Ings decisively turned the match in the Clarets' favour.

After threatening throughout the match, he broke the deadlock in the 64th minute with a sweetly-struck shot and then made the points safe with a late penalty.

If Ings was the hero then QPR's Joey Barton was the villain.

He spurned the best of the visitors' chances, hauled down Ings for the 88th-minute spot-kick - somehow managing to avoid a second yellow card in the process - and also appeared to be struck on the head by a plastic bottle thrown by home fans.

"I'm delighted with the tactical framework of team, the effervescence of the team but most of all the quality of the team, which I was thought was excellent," Dyche said.

"The first goal was fit to grace most pitches, the pace of it and the quality of the finish.

"I thought we played really well first half and had some good half chances. But I said to the players at half-time that they'd have to go even harder because QPR are not an easy group of players to crack.

"However, to deliver that performance and win in that fashion, it's right up as one of my best days here."

Dyche saved special praise for Ings, who has scored 13 goals this season having stepped up after the departure of Charlie Austin to QPR - a player his former team-mates kept quiet all afternoon.

"I just felt there was more to come from him we spoke to him in the summer and aligned him with what we thought was important and I always believe in players taking ownership of that and he certainly is."

QPR manager Harry Redknapp left the post-match duties to assistant manager Kevin Bond, who admitted the Londoners had been outclassed in key departments and paid the price for failing to take their chances, highlighting a late Richard Dunne miss as critical.

"Credit to Burnley they stopped us from playing, which we knew they'd always do because they work extremely hard," Bond said.

"I'm just disappointed we weren't able to play through that initial pressure. In the end, when we did get on the ball we then gave it away.

"We weren't able to play from the back or play through midfield as much as we would've liked and that is disappointing.

"It was always going to be a tight game and one goal was probably going to be enough. Our handling of the ball throughout the game wasn't as good as we'd expect it to be.

"It was a top-of-the-table clash and we wanted to lay a marker down, so obviously it is disappointing.

"We can't really complain because we had chances and never took them."

Meanwhile, Dyche condemned the Clarets supporter who threw a plastic bottle at Barton, who ran a gauntlet of terrace chants all afternoon.

"We don't want that," he added.

"We want the fans to support the team but I can't govern that while I'm trying to manage the team."

till I suppose it still gives him at least another year in the job. By the time it comes around , he can always make up another excuse. First it was 3 months , then a year .....Next year ? Whats his excuse with Van Persie ?